Chesnara has received regulatory approval to complete its £260m purchase of HSBC Life UK.
The confirmation means the firm can continue the acquisition process and is now targeting completion by the end of January.
The firm said: “Chesnara is pleased to announce that the proposed acquisition has received UK regulatory approval and work will now progress with a view to completing the transaction at the end of January 2026.”
The deal was first announced on 3 July and would be the group’s largest transaction to date with approximately £4bn of assets under administration and approximately 454,000 policies being acquired by Chesnara with approximately 432,000 being protection products as of 31 December 2024.
It will create a combined group with approximately 1.4 million policies.
Later in the month Health & Protection reported that Chesnara was considering the possibilities of retaining the protection insurance new business operations of HSBC Life UK when it takes over the firm.
It is also understood that around 230 staff including HSBC Life (UK) CEO Mark Hussein will transfer to Chesnara Group when the expected deal completes in 2026.
Sources close to the deal told Health & Protection that aside from a small crossover period it is expected that the Countrywide Assured and Chesnara Group brands will be used for the business.
Chesnara has yet to confirm it will continue the new business operations post-takeover, however the HSBC Life UK business has remained open, continued taking on new sales and has been updating products since the deal was announced.
Also in July, Chesnara raised £140m of the required cash for the deal through a new share rights issue, while in August it said it expected the deal to earn it £140m in the first five years.
